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Ong-Oaj Pairam – SS17

I’m an unashamed devotee of Ong-Oaj Pairam & I’m an unashamed fan of country and western, I grew up in a house where Dad played a lot of Jonny Cash, Glen Campbell & Dolly Parton so when the two come together I’m a very happy boy.

Bring them together is what Ong-Oaj did, his trademark elegance mixed with the tasselled fun of Nashville and the Grand Old Opry. It’s a difficult task to take on such an iconic and sadly much maligned style but this was a triumph of taking it’s highlights and reinventing them for a new era.

I particularly loved how playful the notes were, the 70’s vibes of Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn added a joy and verve to the looks that just couldn’t help but bring a smile, a smile alongside a toe tapping remixed sound track of Country & Westerns greatest hits. When you open with Jolene you pretty much have me hooked.

There was plenty of play and bounce in the frilling and fringing that set the tone of the looks, each danced to ts own beat as the models walked down the catwalk, movement is a subject I frequently return to, and I cannot stress enough just how much of a part it plays in the success of a outfit, if it doesn’t move right it looks awkward, and Ong-Oaj is a master of that movement.

But for regular watchers of the eponymous label don’t worry, the high end draping and chic looks were also in the collection, this season we are being taken from Tennessee to the red carpet glee we’ve come to know and love, the more dressed looks were as fantastic as ever.

Collected in their delicacy including looks that once more floated like gentle clouds of fabric blown down the catwalk on a light spring breeze, the gowns were there. Each of the looks remains a statement and a show stopper, though I don’t think any of us sitting in the church near Seven Dials ever wanted the show to stop. Another season, another triumph for Ong-Oaj Pairam.